Driving Lessons
by Jabberwockiness
Summary: "How can you approve!" Sirius watches as Remus' eyebrows go up into his forehead, his cheeks stained pink. "It's a motorbike!"


**Driving Lessons**

"Unghhhh..." He shifts in his sleep, burrowing deeper into something soft, and warm, and slightly squishy...he'd been dreaming about...rabbits...or was it clouds...he isn't quite sure. It had been a nice dream, he knows that much, but...

A hair tickles his cheek, and he slowly realizes that it is not his own. Hair. Because his isn't that long, and only someone else...ah.

He opens his eyes, squinting in the sunlight of what appears to be early afternoon, his memory slowly filters back to him. That something soft and warm appears to be someone's arm, connected to a shoulder, and he could probably guess whose hair that was... "Pads?" he mumbles, groggy from his nap.

"Yeah?" He can feel the word vibrating from the speaker's mouth and down into his chest and through his body, resonating from one boy to the next.

He closes his eyes again, not caring if he isn't really exercising that constant vigilance that James was lamenting the other day. That sun is awfully bright. "We're still lost, aren't we." It isn't a question, but a statement of fact.

The body he is nestled against lets out a long, low breath. "Pretty much."

"Mhmm..." Remus grumbles a little, and goes back to sleep.

ooo

"Moony, it's perfect! Prongs, _please_ tell our dear friend Moony that this is one of my most perfect ideas!"

"Eh?" James Potter is sprawled on the one couch in their shared flat, staring at the ceiling as he listlessly throws a miniature Quaffle into the air and catches it, again and again. Over, and over, and over.

The repetition is driving Sirius Black mad. In a fit of pique, he grabs the Quaffle, stuffing it into his pocket. "Prongs!" he hisses, keeping an eye on Remus, gauging his reaction. "Help!"

"Mpf." James glares balefully at his best friend, then proceeds to drawl in a monotone, "Moony, he's wanted the stupid thing for a year now, so maybe you should just tell him what he wants to hear." He pulls another tiny Quaffle from a pocket and resumes his personal game of catching and throwing. "Else, he'll never buy the damn thing, and then we'll have to keep listening to his whining."

Peter chimes in from his seat on the floor, where he is currently engrossed in a game of Wizarding Snap Solitaire. "He just wants our approval, y'know."

"How can you approve!" Sirius watches as Remus' eyebrows go up into his forehead, his cheeks stained pink. "It's a fucking motorbike!"

"And it's beautiful!" Sirius says with glee, bounding over to his friend at the kitchen table and pointing at the vivid pictures in the catalog. "With some magical enhancements, it'll be -"

Remus cuts in tiredly. "Do you even know how to drive one?"

ooo

The second time Remus wakes up, his head is in the other boy's lap. Above him, he hears a quavery bass rendition of the Weird Sisters' newest hit; under normal circumstances, he would mind, but the way Sirius is stroking his hair is just _so very nice_…

The song breaks off, warps and changes and becomes something he's sure he's heard before, but can't place for the life of him. Celestina Warbeck? Glenda Chittock? Or maybe one of those Muggle bands Remus' sister loves so much? What are they, the Bugs or Insects or Beetles or something…

Remus' eyes flutter shut again, as he remembers once more that they are in the middle of nowhere, with no one to call and no way out.

ooo

"Oh, Remus, what a surprise!" Lily pulls him inside her flat, giving him a puzzled look. "James isn't here, if that's what you're looking for." These days, James spends almost as much time at her place as he does at theirs, and Remus is waiting for the moment when James decides to move out altogether.

He gives her a small smile, taking in her no-nonsense ponytail and the white robes. Being a Healer suits her, he thinks. "Actually, I came to see you."

"About what?" She sets the kettle on the stove without even having to ask; they have known each other too long.

He hesitates, suddenly doubting his reasons for being here. But no, this is definitely necessary. _For Sirius' sake_, he firmly says to himself, and so he squares his shoulders. "Erm…I need a favor, Lily."

The redhead taps the kettle with her wand and it immediately starts to whistle. "Of course, anything."

Remus accepts the steaming hot cup of tea with a smile and nod of thanks, wondering how to put his request. Then, leaning against Lily's kitchen counter, he finally blurts out, "Can I borrow your car?"

She blinks owlishly at him for a moment. He cringes, expecting her to refuse, but she just says, "Why?"

"It's for Padfoot." He winces; this isn't helping his case any, and he can hear his voice speeding up. "Y'see, he wants to buy a motorbike, but he doesn't know how to drive, and I said that if you learn to drive a car first a bike will be easier, seeing as how we can't talk him out of getting the blasted thing so at least I can keep him from being killed on his first day with it. You're the only one we know with a car, so – "

Lily Evans is always full of surprises, he realizes, as she opens her mouth and says simply, "Okay," cutting off his sentence.

It's his turn to pause. "Really?"

She pours herself another cup and sips it slowly. "I trust you to take care of Sirius and protect the car. And it's old, anyway. What's the worst that could happen?"

ooo

"Moony!" He jolts awake, his head coming up and hitting against the steering wheel, hard. He winces, but sits up fully, gingerly touching the side of his face. Hopefully it doesn't bruise.

"What?" he snaps. A glance at the car's dashboard tells him it's been five hours since their battery first died. Everything had been going along swimmingly (Padfoot was a quick learner, and they'd been at it since breakfast this morning), but then the battery had died, and now they were stuck here, with nothing but _stupid, feckless_ sheep for company.

Sirius gives him a concerned look, then proceeds to jab his finger at a piece of paper. "I've figured out where we are!"

"Oh?" Remus rubs the sleep from his eyes, feeling rather drained by the day's events. Things like this never happened when he was with Peter, and only occasionally did things go drastically wrong with James in tow. It was always _Sirius_ who encountered hazards at every turn. "Where, then?"

"Right there!" Sirius points again, and Remus gives it a dutiful look, but all he sees are meaningless squiggles and letters.

"Right." Remus yawns and folds in on himself, leaning back on the seat so that he can stare up at the sky. It's now dinnertime, and his stomach growls slightly. _Frick._

One of them could go and Apparate for help, but neither of them wants to face Lily and her wrath. _She trusted me_, Remus thinks, feeling slightly ill. "Was that all, then?" he says, closing his eyes and settling in for another nap. He's not sure how Sirius has managed to stay awake all this time.

"Well…" Remus doesn't object when Sirius swings an arm around him and draws him close, close enough that Remus' head can rest on the other boy's shoulder. "I _also_ talked to a very nice couple when they drove by, and they rang for help on the fellytone. They should be here any second."

What? Repairs? Remus wonders how Sirius managed to solve a situation all on his own.. And also why he didn't wake up when those people drove by. Normally, Remus has rather acute senses, what with the "furry little problem" and all, but he drank an enormous amount of Firewhiskey with his coworkers last night, and now he's regretting it slightly. "That's good," he mumbles tiredly, letting himself lean into Padfoot's embrace.

They sit like this for who-knows-how-long before Remus, on the brink of sleep, murmurs, "Pads?"

"Yeah?" He can hear the smile in his best friend's voice, and it's the last thing he envisions before he succumbs to sleep completely.

"If I had to get stuck in the middle of nowhere, I'm glad it was with you."


End file.
